People are required to manage many pieces of information in the course of a typical day, relating to appointments, errands, projects and responsibilities. In addition, a person has goals and other personal matters which need to be incorporated into the planning of one's day in order for them to be realized. Besides the recurring and/or ordinary pieces of information an individual must track and record (which can clutter a person's mind or workplace), it is necessary to make note of new and important ideas lest they be forgotten. In general, having to remember a great many pieces of information tends to make a person feel overwhelmed and therefore, less productive and creative.
A number of personal organizers (often also called daily organizers or day planners) are available which provide specific places to write down goals, appointments, to-do lists, etc. The effectiveness of an organizer depends upon its ease of use, including its portability and the user's ability to put all needed information in one place, so that information may be accessed efficiently and in an organized manner.
At present most paper-based personal organizers use individual sheets of paper held in ring binders or bound books, which do not allow for easy disposal of information no longer needed. Although the format of a binder allows the user to select various topics for recording information, a binder often becomes a vehicle for dated information and an array of random notes. Similarly, bound books require the user to sort through old and unneeded information.
Portable or pocket-sized organizers available today are suitable for carrying a limited amount of information, not all of which may be easily accessed. One such pocket-sized portfolio organizer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,052 to Casper. This patent describes a portfolio system to hold various materials, such as a passport and currency, for the business person. It also contains a pocket for three information cards which are tri-folded. This invention is not designed for an individual's personal use (that is, makes no provision for tracking one's personal responsibilities, activities and goals), and does not use flat cards. Another pocket organizer system, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,764 to Dyer, uses a pocket-sized container having folded sheets of paper for recording appointments, addresses and the like. A user of this system is required to unfold and fold the various sheets to consult or update the information.
Organizers including loose-leaf binders are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,908 to Dorney et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,355 to Durand; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,067 to Williams. These organizers feature tabbed sections for separating various types of information. A user of such a ring binder may be reluctant to use these sections for various everyday purposes because their format appears too permanent. Some sections (e.g. at the rear of the binder) are not readily visible. Many users therefore will write notes and shopping lists, for example, on cards or scraps of paper and then put them in random places, instead of actually writing on the pages of the organizer book. A card file, particularly one with tabbed dividers such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,531,429 to Weis, may serve as a convenient, reusable calendar and reminder system if one is at one's desk. Such a file generally is intended for desktop use and lacks portability.
There remains a need for a daily organizer which is portable, permits the user to carry only information that is currently needed, and provides quick visual access to different types of information. In particular, there is a need for an organizer which allows the user to easily take out and insert individual cards containing specific information made of various paper weights.